{"id":87621,"date":"2024-07-08T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-07-08T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/2024\/07\/08\/saudi-canadian-business-council-is-back-at-work-after-five-year-hiatus\/"},"modified":"2024-07-08T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2024-07-08T00:00:00","slug":"saudi-canadian-business-council-is-back-at-work-after-five-year-hiatus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/2024\/07\/08\/saudi-canadian-business-council-is-back-at-work-after-five-year-hiatus\/","title":{"rendered":"Saudi-Canadian business council is back at work after five-year hiatus"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning, wonderful people. <\/strong>It\u2019s a reasonably calm news morning at home with plenty of capital markets news and two M&A updates. And brace yourselves: Earnings season has just begun. <\/p>\n

All of that is in stark contrast to the splash of politics that dominates the global business <\/strong>press<\/strong>, as we note in this morning\u2019s Big Story Abroad. Little wonder that political risk advisory is fast becoming the next \u201cbig thing\u201d on Planet Finance. <\/p>\n

^^ We have all of this and more, below. <\/p>\n

HAPPENING NOW: A Saudi delegation led by Economy and Planning Minister Faisal <\/strong>Alibrahim is taking part <\/strong>in the United Nations\u2019 <\/strong>High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development<\/a><\/strong> today<\/strong>, state news agency SPA<\/a> reported. The delegation will present a report on sustainable development in Riyadh. The forum wraps up on Thursday, 18 July.<\/p>\n

WEATHER- <\/strong>Riyadh will see clear skies with a daytime high of 44\u00b0C . Windy weather is in the cards for Dammam, with the mercury peaking at 45\u00b0C, while Madinah will see a high today of 43\u00b0C.<\/p>\n

WATCH THIS SPACE-<\/p>\n

<\/a> #1- A bilateral business council with Canada is back to work after a five-year hiatus<\/strong>, the Federation of Saudi Chambers said in a post on X<\/a>. The council will be led by Mohamed Al Daleem \u2014 a member of the federation\u2019s mining committee and an investor in Canada\u2019s mining sector, it said. The council will have two deputies on board with each an investor in Canada\u2019s contracting and healthcare sectors.<\/p>\n

REMEMBER-<\/strong> Saudi restored full diplomatic relations<\/a> with Canada last year with both countries working on developing economic, commercial and security ties. Canada\u2019s ambassador to the Kingdom Jean-Philippe Linteau said in February<\/a> that Ottawa was looking to rebuild a \u201cgreat relationship\u201d with Riyadh. <\/p>\n

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<\/a> #2- <\/strong>The Capital Market Authority (CMA)<\/strong> is out with proposed amendments to a regulatory <\/strong>framework to set up omnibus accounts here<\/strong> as it seeks to develop trading mechanisms on Tadawul and spur investment, it said in a statement<\/a>. The draft amendments (pdf)<\/a> have been put up on the government\u2019s survey platform, Istitlaa<\/a>, for public consultation until Thursday, 18 July.<\/p>\n

How omnibus accounts work: <\/strong>They are an investment account that allows for managed trades for a pool of investors as a single entity. The account is run by a broker or agent who acts as an intermediary between the stock exchange and investors whose funds are being pooled. The transactions are carried out under the name of the associated broker.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s new? <\/strong>An omnibus account would no longer be required to be filed under the relevant client\u2019s name and could be registered instead by their asset manager or an overseas custodian, according to the amendments. The CMA said the removal of such a requirement would help \u201cdevelop the mechanism of holding and registering clients\u2019 assets.\u201d It also simplified notifications by asset managers to clients of risks associated with registering their assets in the names of another CMA-regulated institution or overseas custodian. <\/p>\n

With an addition:<\/strong> Capital market institutions should ensure separate accounts and records to differentiate between their assets and those of clients included in the omnibus account.<\/p>\n

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<\/a> #3- Bookbuilding for Al Ashghal Al <\/strong>Moysra\u2019s<\/strong> IPO began yesterday<\/strong> as the local contractor seeks to float a 20% stake<\/a> or 480k ordinary shares on Nomu at a price range of SAR 35-50. The subscription period for the share sale, which is only open to qualified investors, runs through Monday, 15 July. Investors can place orders on a minimum of 10 shares and a maximum of 119,990 shares. Final allotment of shares is slated for Sunday, 21 July.<\/p>\n

PSA- <\/p>\n

Two influencers have been fined a total of SAR 11.1 mn for using their social media <\/strong>accounts to manipulate share prices on <\/strong>Tadawul. Mohammed Alharbi and Nawaf Alharbi used their accounts on social media platform X (@mnawafms<\/a> and @nawafmsz<\/a>) to influence the share prices of 17 companies, the Capital Market Authority said in a statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n

DATA POINTS-<\/p>\n

<\/a> #1- <\/strong>The total number of factories in the Kingdom clocked in at just south of 11.9k in <\/strong>April <\/strong>2024<\/strong>, up 9.2% compared to the same month last year, according to a post on X<\/a> by the Industry and Mineral Resources Ministry. The ministry issued 86 new industrial licenses in April of this year, with an investment volume of SAR 2.3 bn. Meanwhile, 67 factories kicked off production with an investment volume of 1.5 bn.<\/p>\n

By the numbers: <\/strong>Nearly 2.2k Saudis left manufacturing jobs in April 2024, while 753 expats took new positions. In total, the ministry said, there were 1.4k fewer jobs in manufacturing that month. <\/p>\n

#2- Businesses submitted fewer requests in 2Q for antitrust rulings <\/strong>ahead of potential mergers, acquisitions, and joint-venture agreements, figures (pdf)<\/a> from the General Authority for Competition (GAC) showed. The authority said it had no objection to 34 of the 57 so-called \u201ceconomic concentration requests,\u201d with 14 other requests deemed unnecessary to notify, the report showed. Nine of the requests were still pending review, according to the authority. May 2024 saw the highest number of approved requests with 15, followed by April with 11, and June with eight.<\/p>\n

#3- The number of registered businesses across the Kingdom grew 78% y-o-y to 121.5k <\/strong>in 2Q 2024<\/strong>, according to the Commerce Ministry\u2019s quarterly bulletin (pdf)<\/a>. Riyadh saw the most registered businesses during the period to account for 42% of the total followed by the Eastern Province (17%), Makkah (16%), Qassim (5%), Asir (4%) and others. Female business owners made up 45% of new registered businesses during the quarter. <\/p>\n

Zooming out:<\/strong> There are currently 1.5 mn registered businesses in the Kingdom as of the end of Q2 2024. <\/p>\n

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THE BIG STORY ABROAD- <\/p>\n

There\u2019s no sign that politics will leave the front pages <\/strong>of the global business press anytime soon:<\/p>\n

France won\u2019t have a far-right government: <\/strong>The country\u2019s centrist and left-wing parties dealt a blow to the far-right Rassemblement National as the leftist Nouveau Front Populaire took the most seats in parliament in voting yesterday. Anti-RN parties got their act together and strategically withdrew candidates so as not to split the vote. They now start a delicate dance: figuring out how to put together a government, a process that could take weeks. <\/p>\n

The state of play at dispatch time <\/strong>this morning: <\/p>\n